Taming Darkness
Chapter 10

~Aleera-

As the memories slowly start to fade, the shadows start slivering over my skin. I shudder, feeling for my magic, desperate to reach it and grasp it in my hands.

If I manage to capture it and am able to hold on to it for long enough, I will be able to break free and go after my mates. They need me now more than ever. Especially Darius.

A loud sob tears out of me at the first twitch of my fingers. I welcome even the slightest movement, grateful to have autonomy over my body after what felt like an eternity. The necessity to move and get out of my own mind is so intense that I keep forcing my thoughts and prayers toward another movement.

Once my prayers are answered and my toes wiggle, I finally come back to my body.

My power flexes-strong, intense, angry, and so, so dark. Yet, to my surprise, it is so light, like a feather. As if it floats and drifts in my veins, under my skin.

It's an odd and unheard-of combination. I s**k in a breath as I replace my bond manifesting and bonding with them.

I can feel them as if I am them. I can sense and almost touch them as if they are extra limbs, suddenly attached to my body, so very familiar. Not only that, but I can feel their magic mold and transform with mine, bonding like the strongest glue, strengthening and dancing together, like fire and ice, the moon and the sun. Opposites yet they're capable of destruction, each as strong as each other but together a lethal combination, heaven and hell molded together creating something else, something marvelous, something stronger, something unstoppable. This reminder of suffocating and breathing, the panic you feel when you can't breathe and the relief when you do. A constant state of living on that edge, dancing on a blade, one slip, and it'll rain destruction, destroy everything yet nothing feels better than standing on that edge, making you feel alive and indestructible.

Their powers become mine and mine becomes theirs, molding into something much bigger than everything I have known until now.

After what feels like an eternity, I jerk upright to replace my body covered in snakes. I can't tell where one snake ended and the next one started. Heads, tails, and bodies slide over me as if I am the home these reptiles had never known they sought.

I should have feared them, I should have tried to get away from their cold scales that slid over my skin, but I didn't. I didn't fear them or have a flight or fight response, no, they sent a thrill through me.

Deep down, I knew that wherever these snakes came from and whatever they were-they were mine. All of them were a part of me, just like my Phoenixes, they were a part of my creation. A representation of how I feel, I'm surrounded by snakes, and only I can tame them.

A loud caw at the window startles me back into my senses. My head twists to look at the window, tearing my gaze away from the newfound addition. Two glowing eyes peer back at me. A soft sigh leaves my lips at the view. Finally, there is something familiar that proves I had escaped the memories and am right where I need to be.

"Ryze," I murmur, and she c***s her head to the side.

The storm outside rages like the power burning inside my veins. Maybe everything around me didn't happen for a reason, but I had a feeling that the weather was copying everything I felt. It's as if nature tried to match what was going on inside my mind and heart. Ryze caws and flies over to me. She perches on my shoulder with such grace, anyone who saw her would claim she had done it at least a thousand times before. Ryze screeches and tries to snatch one of the snakes, but the moment she does, the snake evaporates, bleeding into my skin.

Just like that, with ease, it disappears right before my eyes, as if it had never been there, as if it never existed.

Shadows. They were shadows that haunted Darius, haunted Kalen and I tamed them-made them mine. As the snakes sliver and climb my body, they feel too real to be a figment of my imagination or a weightless shadow.

A jolt through the bond forces me back to reality. Right back to everything I was missing in the moment of confusion, created by the shadow snakes.

Before the thought flits through my head, I am standing, no doubt that has to be one of Tobias vampiric charms, usually I can't move that quick.

I feel different, almost like I can't identify the feeling or even describe it. So I push it out of my mind, nothing makes sense today. I will have to figure this out later. I have more important matters to focus on.

I move about the room, my senses heightened. I snatch my jeans off the shelf and pull them on with haste. Before I reach out my hand to snatch my bra and a shirt, I freeze on the spot as I catch my reflection in the mirror.

I don't recognize myself, the woman peering back at me, barely holds any resemblance to me. The version looking back at me is like a stranger, her eyes a demonic shade of black, webbing like I've never seen before, slivers like fractures in porcelain across my face, neck, and arms.

The shadow snakes wrap their flexible bodies around my limbs like oscillating tattoos, creating intricate designs that not only adorn my skin but make me look better than ever. Yet, the coldness of it slivers beneath my skin, like veins. They are another part of me, one I had no idea about.

Turning my head, I can't seem to turn my gaze from the eerie look of my eyes. My eyes remind me of pure-blooded demons. Black, no whites. What's different and stands out are the irises of my eyes that are glowing like pure embers and everything appears to be mirrored in them. My reflection is entrancing, even to me, and I want to stay and inspect my appearance.

I shake my head, reminding myself there is something more important to focus on, and quickly put on my bra. Then, I reach for my shirt, about to pull it over my black bra before looking at the fabric.

Once again, before the thought registers, my body reacts as my wings shoot out strong. The power behind the sudden action is great, sending nearly every object close by flying to the sides.

I gasp in amazement. My wings feel heavy and look hard as steel. However, they are no longer the same either, something has changed. I've changed. We all have.

Ryze caws, and the sound makes me twist, dropping the shirt as my eyes zero in on the open window. I don't have to think or voice my intentions when my wings close around me. My body bolts forward on instinct as I torpedo out of the window right before the wings open. The feeling is indescribable. My wings are strong and powerful, effortlessly hovering my body in the air.

Spark screeches high above me before shooting down in my direction. I glance over my shoulder just when Ryze zips out of the window from which I just came flying out of.

My wings beat a few powerful flaps, thrusting me higher when Spark's massive body swoops beneath me and up. My legs open as I drop onto his back. I don't have to think or plan anything. Spark is connected to me, he knows me, and his power perfectly complements mine. There is no better and trustworthy ally than him.

"Take me to them," I tell Spark, brushing my fingers through his feathers. Feeling him under my weight, under my palms, calms me. Just a little, but for a moment, I feel a suspended sense of peace, as if everything will be alright.

The loud, deafening screech that leaves Spark shatters my short, momentary trance. My Phoenixes mimic the same call as my army heads for the city.

As I watch my Phoenixes fly ahead, one thing becomes abundantly clear. We are a force to be reckoned with and tonight there will be a reckoning. The power hunters are about to see true power.